Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A couple of issues were raised there. We discussed the issue of service commitment levels in our last session. It reflects the fact that this is an issue across a number of areas in the Defence Forces for specialist personnel. There is severe competition with the private sector. It appears to have hit a particular pinch point in Baldonnel. This is the home of the Air Corps. It is the most important military aerospace facility in the State and it is, in effect, operating nine to five. Former TD Cathal Berry, our erstwhile colleague, identified this as a perfect example of a single point of failure with the potential to cause the entire operation to end. The entire basis of functioning of the Air Corps is challenged by this. In addition, he and others flagged that this issue has been brought to the attention of the Air Corps, of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces more generally for some time now. When was the first recommendation made to the Government regarding a service level commitment for air traffic controllers?

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